Bold lines bright colors and defiant patterns now adorn the walls of the Weisman Museum as the Roy Lichtenstein: In Process exhibition comes to Pepperdine.
Though his famed old-fashioned comic strip style he rose through the ranks as one of the leading figures in the pop satirical movements along side Andy ?Warhol during the 60s. As one of America’s premier pop artists Lichtenstein used iconic images from pop culture ranging from Donald Duck to the Prodential Life Insurance logo. His work also shows classic figures first created by Van Gogh Matisse and Picasso and turns them into something new.
He updated these images for the new 20th century generations and utilized their historic stability and influence in order to make a powerful statement about the shallowness of today’s humanity hiding behind a commercial facade.
Where you would expect to see homogenous skin tones there is a mottled array of dots as if it was a classic newspaper cartoon. Where water would normally smooth into a shimmering reflection there are bold diagonal stripes.
His art is unrelenting and unyielding and functions as both a living irony and a social commentary.
In his work Water Lilies with Japanese Bridge (1992) he reduced the impressionistic transient work of Monet into blocks of pattern outlined by indomitable black lines; he looked at something that was fleeting and momentary and created an indelible reflection of that image.
In just as bold a move Lichtenstein produced a series of works highlighting the self-destructive nature of women who take great pains to achieve a semblance of “accepted” beauty. He said that “women … put their lips on in a certain shape and do their hair to resemble a certain ideal … draw[ing] themselves up” with makeup until they are as stylized and unnatural a reproduction as Lichtenstein’s Seductive Girl (1996).
The show not only highlights the deep commentary found in the works of Lichtenstein but it also gives a rare and unique glimpse into the hidden side of artistic creation.
Sketches drawings and collages hang alongside his finished works to give an idea of the creative process that Lichtenstein went through when creating his pieces. The usually smaller studies bear the marks of the artist’s pencil as he placed and replaced forms in his works.
Walking through the gallery the viewer gets a sense of the way Lichtenstein carefully designed his ideas into art — initiating tweaking and refining his original images until they matched his artistic vision.
Downstairs you will find works inspired by his own observations of pop culture such as the little houses in the game Monopoly as a reflection of the suburban tract home and the American dream as well as works inspired by previous artists such as Van Gogh Matisse and Picasso.
Upstairs are his works dealing with the female nude. These are primarily a social commentary on the flat corporate degradation of female beauty in the U.S. through the widespread use of makeup and other styling products to create a homogenous stereotype masquerading as true beauty.
The exhibition is worth your time and will have a profound impact on the seasoned art lover as well as the curious passerby. Helpful placards alongside each piece give context and the general interpretation of the work. No one should be intimidated by stopping in no matter his or her art background.
It is a visual treat to just stand in the middle of the exhibit and gaze at the cool deep blues and grays of the Weisman’s walls and find yourself surrounded by the bold colorful sketches paintings and collages wrought with both visual appeal and deep psychological meaning of Roy Lichtenstein.
Roy Lichtenstein: In Process now hangs in the Weisman and runs through April 3. It is well worth a look.